Churches in Cuba and the United States have joined in a petition to the United States government to lift the financial and commercial embargo on the country in the face of the crisis caused by the global pandemic of the coronavirus causing the COVID-19 disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe request the Government of the United States to immediately lift the economic, financial and commercial blockade that for more than 60 years has been imposed on Cuba as well as on other nations,\u201d the Cuban Council of Churches and its U.S. counterpart requested in a statement released this Sunday.<\/p>\n
They also asked that \u201call manipulation and use of political and economic interests stop\u201d in the face of the current global humanitarian crisis, exacerbated and made visible by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
They also extended their call to the international ecumenical movement, to all churches and religions in the United States itself and the world, to governments, to the United Nations, and to all people of good will, to join the effort for a global petition for the \u201cimmediate\u201d lifting of the \u201cblockade,\u201d as that Washington policy is called in Cuba.<\/p>\n
The Cuban and U.S. Councils of Churches also declare themselves in favor of ceasing all sanctions on any country or region, considering that these \u201cgenocidal\u201d policies slow down and limit the global response to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
The letter signed by the presidents of both religious organizations, Antonio Santana and Jim Winkler, indicates that both religious organizations have worked together in unity for many years for \u201cthe right to life, health and well-being of all the inhabitants of this world.\u201d<\/p>\n
They recall that the current humanitarian crisis that the world is experiencing caused by the coronavirus occurs a few days before Easter 2020 (April 5-11), Christianity\u2019s most important celebration.<\/p>\n
This week, the Cuban-American teacher Carlos Lazo<\/a> in the United States launched an online campaign<\/a> that also asks the president of that nation, Donald Trump, to lift economic restrictions on Cuba, tightened by his administration, while the coronavirus epidemic lasts.<\/p>\n